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All four of NASA’s MMS spacecraft in the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., completed and stacked for launch atop a ULA Atlas-V rocket as early as March 12, 2015. Photo Credit: Alan Walters / AmericaSpace

In a few weeks four identically-instrumented NASA spacecraft will launch on the space agency’s next […]

The MUOS-3 payload, encapsulated within its bulbous payload fairing, is readied for installation atop the Atlas V 551. This will be the first of 13 missions planned by United Launch Alliance (ULA) in 2015. Photo Credit: ULA

As it enters its ninth year of operations since its formation as a merger between Boeing and […]

After completing a banner 14 flights last year, United Launch Alliance (ULA)—the Centennial, Colo.-based operator of the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Delta II boosters out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air […]

2015 promises to be a dramatic year for the ISS. Four Soyuz spacecraft will launch toward the space station, delivering new crew members from Russia, the United States, Japan, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Photo Credit: NASA

The 15th year of continuous occupation of the International Space Station (ISS) promises to be a dramatic […]

The vehicles which will fill the void left by the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle fleet for low-Earth orbit and ISS crew transport, the Boeing CST-100 and Dragon V2 space capsules. Photo: Boeing / Robert Fisher / AmericaSpace

Twice used, the Atlas V 541 saw its maiden launch in November 2011, delivering NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the Curiosity rover on their voyage to the Red Planet. Thursday’s NROL-35 mission will be the first 541 to fly from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Photo Credit: Mike Killian

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NASA's Amazing Daily Image

The NACA Spirit Captured, 1945

In this 1945 photo, test pilots (from left) Mel Gough, Herb Hoover, Jack Reeder, Steve Cavallo and Bill Gray stand in front of a P-47 Thunderbolt. The photo was taken at the then-named Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, which was a research facility for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or the NACA.
The NACA was the main institutional basis for creating NASA in 1958.
On March 3, 1915 – one hundred years ago -- the U.S. Congress established the NACA in order "to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution."
From humble beginnings with a $5000 budget, no paid staff and no facilities, the NACA won the Collier trophy five times. Its researchers made critical contributions to victory in World War II, spawned a world-leading civil aviation manufacturing industry, propelled supersonic flight, supported national security during the Cold War, and laid the foundation for modern air travel and the space age.
Learn more about the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NACA at www.nasa.gov/naca100.
Image Credit: NASA Read More